In general, electric junction box assemblies include a junction box for storing electric components. The electric junction box includes a bottom housing assembly and a top cover. The electric components may be disposed in the bottom housing assembly and covered by the top cover. The electric components are configured to power and control electronic devices. The electric components illustratively include a bus bar, relays, switches and a controller for controlling electric devices. For instance, the electric junction box assemblies may be used in an automotive vehicle to control and power the actuation of electronic devices such as windshield wipers, fans for the HVAC system, mirrors or the like.
With reference now to FIGS. 1A and 1B an illustration of an electric junction box assembly 100 of the prior art is shown. The electric junction box assembly 100 may include an eyelet terminal 200. The eyelet terminal 200 may be used to provide power to the electric components. The eyelet terminal 200 may be covered by an eyelet terminal cover 300. It is known to use a tether 400 to secure the eyelet terminal cover to the electric junction box assembly 100, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Accordingly, the eyelet terminal cover 300 may be removed from a top cover 500 of the junction box assembly 100 and is retained by the tether 400 as shown in FIG. 1B.
The electric junction box may be housed under the hood of the automotive vehicle where packaging space is limited. However, there may be instances where the electric components may need to be accessed or where the electric connection to the eyelet terminal must be disengaged to perform maintenance. Currently, in such situations, the eyelet terminal cover remains tethered to the top cover and thus may be subjected to inadvertent loads causing the tether to break. Further, as the eyelet terminal cover may get in the way during maintenance as it remains fixed to the top cover.
Accordingly, it remains desirable to have an electronic junction box assembly wherein the eyelet terminal cover may be completely disengaged from the top cover. It further remains desirable to have a retaining system with a certain amount of redundancy to help ensure that the tether is functional to retain the eyelet terminal cover to the top cover.